Seasons Within Box Set

by Lele Iturrioz

  She remembered how Synthia moved her body. The worst part being that Synthia wasn’t just a nightmare, Gaia had actually wielded her. She took someone’s free will just out of anger. She hated that.

  Gaia pulled a white towel from a cabinet and dried her face. Whatever that dream was, she didn’t want to feel like she did in there ever again. She didn’t know how to fix what she’d done to Synthia but she knew how to fix the rest.

  She snuck around the hotel, placed a seed on the ground, and wielded a group of white irises. She left one on the hotel sign and went back to bed knowing that the next day, she was going to have a talk with Pratt.

  * * *

  Next morning, just as he was called to, Pratt waited for Gaia a few yards away from the hotel. He swung the white iris between his fingers.

  “Hey, Princess,” he greeted Gaia as he kept playing with the flower. He noticed her face was as white as a sheet of paper, her hair was tied in a messy bun, and her usually happy vibe was gone. “Someone looks absolutely terrible,” he joked but it took no more than a minute for him to realize things were not good.

  “I’m sorry, Pratt.” The tone of her voice was enough to let Pratt realize his suspicions were right. “I’m not coming to meet you again.”

  “You still don’t trust me?” Pratt dropped the white flower to the grass. “Not after everything that happened? The Draak?”

  “I trust you, I just can’t keep doing this.”

  Pratt got closer. “What happened?”

  “Nothing.” She closed her arms to make a barrier between them.

  “Don’t lie to me.” Gaia saw not only anger but hurt. Pratt was hurt, truly hurt.

  “I… wielded a member of my team,” she admitted out loud for the first time.

  “Did he notice?” he asked, amused. His crazy and fuming mood had disappeared.

  “It wasn’t a he. And no, she thought I pushed her with my hands,” Gaia said, a hot wave of guilt flushing her face.

  Again, Pratt’s mood switched in an instant. This time to overwhelming enthusiasm. “That’s incredible! Wielding someone without them knowing means you’re really powerful!”

  “I don’t know,” she rolled her eyes. “She’s not known for being very bright. Still, power or no power, I didn’t like it.”

  “What happened when you wielded her?”

  The image of Synthia’s awkward movements haunted Gaia’s thoughts. “She bent awkwardly.”

  “Besides that. What did she do to get herself pushed?”

  “She got on my nerves, and I lost it.”

  “But you stopped the fight,” he made his point.

  “It felt weird.”

  “Just answer yes or no,” he questioned her. “You stopped the fight?”

  “Yes. And I don’t care if I stopped it, I’ll never wield like that again.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “Positive.” Especially after that hideous dream. “I’m sorry but I don’t know if this is the right thing. Us continuing… like this.”

  “Is this our goodbye?”

  “For now.”

  “For now?”

  “Maybe we can reconnect in Terra, you never know.”

  “You said it yourself.” He took a step back. “You never know.”

  She held his arm and squeezed it for a brief moment before letting it go. “See you in Terra.”

  Gaia walked away not knowing if she had done the right thing. He was terrific yet there was nothing she could do. His teachings had started to put Gaia in a state of constant mental wars.

  Gaia climbed the hotel stairs when she ran into Willow. “Found you. Follow me,” she ordered and kept walking towards the forest section near the Fraser River.

  As soon as they were at a reasonable distance, Willow took out her crystal dagger and drew a triangle on the dirt. “That will give us a few hours of camouflage.” Willow handed Gaia a red seed pouch. “I need your help with this. Make them grow until they get as big as this.” She showed the measurement by bending both of her elbows in a big imaginary hug. Gaia threw some of the seeds on the dirt.

  “What are we doing?”

  “Edan said we can’t wait any longer.” She pointed her hands towards the seeds.

  Gaia watched how the tree grew taller. Slowly spinning, its bright colors changing and growing flowers, like a magic trick. “What about Floyd? He’s still unable to walk those distances.”

  “That’s why we are making a boat.” Willow smiled. She loved the idea of sailing. “We are taking the river up to Lillooet. We’ll hike to the door from there.” She counted the seeds that were on the floor. “We’ll need more trees.”

  Gaia emptied the pouch and threw the rest of the seeds to the ground. “Where’s everyone else?”

  “They’re making the sails and gathering our stuff.” She pointed at the small seeds on the far left. “Take care of those,” she added.

  * * *

  Halfway through, Gaia noticed the air carried a sweet hint of vanilla. Veter was somewhere close.

  “Are these enough, Blondie?” Veter was carrying a thick, long ax while smoking his usual cigar. He was wielding the wind to carry seventeen thick dead dried logs. “These are all the dead ones we could find.” He puffed smoke.

  “We could use two more. You can put the ones you have there in a row please.” Willow stepped on one of the dead logs testing its hardness. “Gaia, come here. We have to intertwine a mix of vines, weeds and roots that will hold the raft and prevent water from getting in.”

  “I can chop down two of these then,” Veter’s voice cracked.

  “These trees are alive.” Willow put herself between the tree and Veter’s ax. “Why don’t you go look for more?”

  “There’s absolutely no way I’m going back into that forest.” Veter left the ax on the floor, curled down next to the First Tree and fidgeted his red pinky ring nervously. Icarus jumped to his hands from the top of the tree. “I still feel them crawling on top of me.”

  Icarus shivered too.

  “Crawling?” Priyam and Shui arrived with the boxed food. “Is Donovan crawling around the forest?”

  “He’s making the sails.” Edan bent over with a rope to tie all the bags of clothes together. “You can go check it out. If you go tell Hunter we are almost ready.”

  “Don’t go, little Prisum,” Veter warned her, yet that made her ten times more curious.

  She obviously went.

  Following the path where Veter came from, Priyam wandered into the forest. She could hear the swishing sound of a sewing factory. Priyam stood beside Hunter who was carving a sailboat out of a small dried piece of wood. Priyam lifted her gaze in amazement. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Up in the trees were branches and leaves where thousands of spiders webbed a long silky fabric. Small rays of light passed through the trees, creating small glimmers on the thousand shinning web strands. Donovan took turns instructing and congratulating them on their incredible job.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” The teen pointed out.

  “Beyond that.” Priyam struggled to find the words that could describe how hauntingly beautiful it looked.

  “You should see the ones in Madagascar.” Hunter blew the extra wood pieces away from his figurine. “Their silk is golden.”

  “Why was Veter running away from here?” Priyam walked closer to one of the spiders. “This is magical.”

  “Veter and Icarus are terrified of spiders.” Hunter smiled.

  “I never pictured Veter scared of anything, much fewer spiders,” Priyam laughed. “By the way, Fireball says we’re almost ready.”

  “They’re almost done too.”

  Wielding the drafts was crazy tiresome. It reminded Gaia of how Miss Brown used to knit sweaters in her time off, not really knowing how she could twist the needles at that speed with no difficulty.

  She was finally getting a handle on it when Willow announced the hull was ready.

  “Good work, Gaia.�
�� Willow jumped into the water and washed her hands. “Edan, they’re back. Let’s hook the sail and leave, we need to reach the base of Jofree Lake before dark.”

  “Pink, take all the food to the boat,” said Edan. “Floyd, stop playing with your damn bandage, get on the boat and lie down.”

  “Aye.” He left his wound alone and jumped into the boat with a smooth swing.

  “I’ve died and gone to Nordic heaven,” gasped Priyam at the sight of the sailboat. The logs were placed creating a perfect Viking-shaped hull, with vines and weeds swirling from the back of the hull to the front ending in a curl with colorful dahlias.

  In the middle of the boat was a tall mast standing where Donovan hooked the spider’s sail. Donovan let go of the sail, the wind hit it and the slightly transparent white silk shimmered like fairy wings.

  “Dog boy, force your slave spiders into making me a long beautiful dress.” Synthia twirled on her toes.

  “They aren’t his slaves, Synthia,” Pink growled at the dancing girl.

  “Then how did they make that?” She rolled her eyes and pointed at the sail.

  “Easy, I asked them.” Donovan smirked as he finished making sure the sail was properly tightened up. “Ready, Edan.”

  “You heard him,” Edan took his and Gaia’s stuff and throwing them over his broad shoulder. “Here. Let me help.” He held Gaia by the waist and carried her up to the boat. She stared, amazed at how his hand covered her entire abdomen. So big… she thought.

  Once on deck, she couldn’t tell if her body felt floaty over the waving water or if it was the fact that Edan was holding her.

  “Thank you,” she said, sensing the moment his body was about to pull away. She felt his hand and warmth separating from her a few seconds before he even moved. That was super weird. She found it strange how she was able to feel his movements before he actually did them. And to make it more bizarre, that wasn’t the first time it had happened. The more time they spent together, the more she felt it.

  Light-headed and tired from working on the boat, Gaia lay down on the pile of bags. She stared at the bright blue sky with scattered clouds. A perfect balance between sunny and faint shadows.

  The gleaming sail, the smell of flowers, the rocking motion and the breeze sliding through her skin cradled Gaia into a deep relaxation.

  Shui took out her flute and played a melodic Celtic song. It was calming and beautiful.

  “We should start singing pirate songs,” Gaia heard Priyam encouraging the crew before she fell asleep.

  Just like in her reality, Gaia was sailing up the river. She lowered her hand to graze the aquamarine water. Her fingers tingled at the cold sensation, drops of water splashing on her face.

  Filled with joy, Gaia lifted her hand away from the water and dried it on her white dress. White dress? Wasn’t I wearing shorts? She gave a little twirl. The fabric followed her movement. This dress is freaking gorgeous! She checked her get-up for the second time and saw a big red stain. Startled, Gaia looked at her hand. It was covered in thick red blood.

  Gaia checked her body for wounds but she had none. The blood on her hands wasn’t hers. “No,” Gaia cried as she watched the river flowing with red blood. Turbulence and waves began to sink the sailing boat on the bloody river. Scared, Gaia jumped from the hull, landing on a pile of ashes.

  She crawled on her hands and knees amongst the ashes. Not here. Please not here, she begged as soon as she recognized the place. Molly’s ice-cream shop.

  A deep disturbing laugh made her skin crawl. She lifted her gaze and saw Him. Azazel was burning the whole place down right in front of Molly and her mother Tara.

  “NO!” Gaia stood up and ran as fast as she could, slamming into a thick glass. Unable to pass through, Gaia hit the glass with anything she could find. “Please don’t kill them! Just stop!” she sobbed. Tears full of ashes and smoke rolled down her pale cheeks. Her body shivered with an overwhelming sense of impotence. Her lungs clenched to the point of suffocation.

  Azazel placed his long cold hand on the other side of the glass. His blue eyes shone with delight, his smile wide. “You did this,” he hissed. “You and your childish actions. How many more?”

  She punched the glass with her fist. Little pieces of shattered glass stuck in her skin. It hurt. A lot. She didn’t care. She kept hitting the glass as the pain crawled all over her.

  She was powerless. She was useless. She was angry. “Just you.”

  The sailboat reached land hitting on the edge of the river. The shake was small yet big enough to wake Gaia up. She gasped at the sudden change of scenery. She was covered with Edan’s jacket. The same one he used back at the first camp.

  She moved the jacket and placed her shaking hand on the same place the Darkling had stabbed her the day Molly’s town was burnt down. Because of the First Tree’s roots and Shui’s incredible knowledge in healing, there wasn’t even a scar. Regrettably, Shui’s healing abilities didn’t extend to the wounds on her thoughts and soul.

  “What’s happening, sleeping beauty?” Priyam cleaned the water drops from her glasses.

  Gaia yawned. She might have slept, but those dreams kept her far from resting. “How long did I sleep this time?”

  “A day and a half.”

  “What!?” At first, she swore Priyam was messing with her. Sleeping for a day and a half was crazy. Wasn’t it? “Is she kidding?” Gaia asked, but no one contradicted her friend.

  “Don’t worry.” Priyam gave her a big smile with her thumbs up. “You didn’t burn anything this time.”

  By pure damn luck she thought, pushing away the anger she felt back in her dream. Gaia stood up trying to shake off the dream. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I keep falling asleep all the time.”

  “It’s very normal, Moja Princeza,” Veter smiled, tossing all of the bags over the deck to the land. “Learning to control an element takes a lot of energy from your body. You’re doing double duty struggling with learning two. Trust me, once you master all of them your sleeping habits will return back to normal.”

  “Come on.” Edan, standing on land, lifted his arms to help Gaia off the boat. For a moment he stared at her as if he was trying to read her thoughts. Gaia could tell there was something unsettling him, she just didn’t know what. “Relax. It was just a nightmare,” he whispered before letting her go. What? How does Edan…? She never told anyone she was stressed, not even Priyam could tell how upset she was over her dream but Edan seemed to get it somehow. Only… How? How does he know how I feel?

  “Let’s go.” Edan carried Gaia’s travel bag. “We have a mountain to hike.”

  * * *

  Two hours of hiking through rocks, logs and hills yet Gaia still couldn’t pay attention to whatever the rest of the team were chatting about, even with having Edan checking on her regularly. She wasn’t able to get away from the image of Azazel’s face. His sharp features, his menacing blue eyes and his charcoal-black hair tied in a small ponytail with strands that fell over his cheek covering a part of his black symbols. He felt so real. The anger, the desperation, the feeling of emptiness and pure numbness, all of it felt real. Was it real? Was he there? She tried to recall but she couldn’t remember a moment where she’d seen him at the town.

  “We’re here.” Shui stretched out her arms taking a deep breath.

  “No way!” Gaia saw herself in front of a breathtaking turquoise glacier lake surrounded by trees, big rocks, and mountains layered in puffy white snow. Her thoughts of anger, confusion and anything that had to do with Azazel, were replaced by peace and ease that only Nature could bring. “This place is incredible.”

  “This is the last lake of the Joffrey Park. The door is in the middle of it.” Edan knelt next to the ledge and placed his hands inside the glacial water. Glimmering heat came from them, warming up the water. “Ready when you are, Shui.”

  Veter took Shui by the hand and helped her to get in the warm water. “Be careful, Blueberry.”

  Shui kissed Vet
er softly on the lips and walked further away from where Edan had his hands inside the lake. “Straight line to the right,” he told Shui and she walked in the direction Edan guided her.

  “Why does she need to be careful?” Pink asked. “Is there a mythological beast inside? And if yes, can we fight it?”

  “Can we eat it?” cheered Floyd.

  “There’s nothing inside,” Donovan smiled and gave Icarus a strawberry. “The water is bitter cold.”

  Floyd laughed like crazy. “Veter’s worried about cold water? How manly, mate.”

  After leaving his cigar between his lips, Veter pushed Floyd into the lake away from Edan’s warming hands. Not a second passed when Floyd jumped out of the water like a scared cat. Yelling. His skin was almost blue. “I’m going to die!” he cried while checking his miraculously dry bandage.

  “Veter!” Willow glared at him. “He’s still in recovery.”

  “He’s Australian.” Veter laughed like Santa Claus would. Deep, loud and contagious. “They’re tougher than any of us.”

  “You evil beast!” Floyd crawled towards the sun.

  “Come here,” Gaia chuckled, pulling him into a hug. She turned her hands hot and warmed him up drying his clothes and body.

  “Cold?” Hunter signaled him with humor.

  “How’s Shui still alive!?” Floyd cried clinging to a warm rock.

  “Edan is warming up a path for her,” said Donovan.

  “Better?” Gaia asked moving her hands over Floyd’s back.

  “A bit.” The twin shivered.

  “Veter!” Shui screamed something but she was too far away for them to hear. She signaled to Hunter.

  “She said she can’t open it,” the teen signed to Edan.

  “That’s really odd,” said Edan without taking his hands out of the crazy cold water.

  Donovan walked closer to the leader. “Do you think they changed them?”

  “Impossible,” Veter joined them. “The doors were created by Nature. They can’t be moved.”